This Physician Scientist Award application requests funds to provide the candidate. Dr. Barbara Kitchell, with the resources to learn the skills and gain the experience necessary to develop into an independent biomedical investigator. Doctor Kitchell is a specialist in veterinary oncology and internal medicine who has conducted clinical research both as an instructor at the School of Veterinary Medicine, UC Davis, and while in private practice. She is currently a clinical assistant veterinarian at Stanford, continuing with her phase I preparation. Doctor Kitchell's immediate goals arc to learn skills and strategies of molecular biological research, become conversant with retroviral pathogenesis research, and cam a PhD in Comparative Pathology. Her long term career goal is to perform molecular and animal modelling basic research on important human diseases at a major medical center. This PSA award will enhance the candidate's development into an independent investigator - by allowing her to devote 100% effort to her training in the academic milieu of Stanford School of Medicine. Stanford will support Dr. Kitchell by providing the environment to complete her training and the facilities to perform her research under the direction of sponsors experienced at training comparative pathologists (Dr. Ruehl) and molecular virologists (Dr. Mullins). The proposed phase two research involves the use of antisense oligonucleotides to decrease the production of the transforming principle of a leukemogenic strain of feline leukemia virus which has transduced the myc oncogene. These studies will assess the ability of antisense treatment to specifically hybridize with v-myc messenger RNA, to decrease expression of the v-myc protein via translation arrest, and to impact the growth characteristics and malignant phenotype of transformed feline lymphocytes in cell culture.